The two warriors battled hard for more than 23 minutes at ONE: SPIRIT OF A WARRIOR in Yangon Myanmar – giving everything in their efforts to win, but refusing to give their opponent any respite.

“[This was] two men who produced the greatest battle we have ever seen.” said ONE play-by-play commentator Michael “The Voice” Schiavello.

“What superlative can you possibly put on a match like Aung La N Sang and Ken Hasegawa? Extraordinary, awesome, epic, amazing, fantastic, thrilling, brilliant – all those words are not enough to describe what a match this was.”

Having finished his two previous bouts in the first round, Aung La N Sang wanted this one to go into the championship rounds so he could give fans in his homeland a show, but he might have reconsidered, had he known what was in store.

He and Haswgawa traded hard shots to the head and body – both at range and in gritty exchanges up close – and exhausted their energy during taxing scrambles on the ground.

The contest seemed to be going to be headed for the judges’ scorecards until the champion unleashed an explosive uppercut that planted the challenger on the canvas and ended proceedings at 3:30 of round five.

“This was a good fight, because the knockout came in the fifth round, and it’s not like we weren’t trying to knock each other out. In that sense, it was a fighter’s fight, and an exciting fight,” he said.

“We both came to fight – he’s durable and I’m pretty durable as well, and it ended with a knockout. Everybody likes to see a fistfight. I don’t know how you rate things like that, but for me, it was a fun fight, and I like fun fights.”

Aung La N Sang will attempt to follow this performance up with his second ONE Middleweight World Title defense in the main event of ONE: PURSUIT OF GREATNESS.